Send in your questions! The Serious Celiac visits Free From Food 2013

The Serious Celiac will be covering Free From Food 2013, a conference and exhibition on allergen-free food, held in Freiburg, Germany on 4 and 5 June 2013. This event targets retailers, food manufacturers, patient support groups and medics, covering the entire industry surrounding celiac disease and other intolerances and allergies. Although normally too pricey for the ‘common’ celiac, The Serious Celiac has received a press ticket, meaning that I can report to you what’s happening, live on Twitter and this weblog! What burning question on gluten free food would you like to see answered? The conference program shows the first day having speakers on topics like labeling legislation, market developments and recalls, mostly about allergens in general.

The second day is all about celiac disease, with speakers from celiac associations of Finland, the United Kingdom, Latvia, The Netherlands and the umbrella organization of European celiac societies, AOECS.

In parallel to the conference, an exhibition will be held with over 100 exhibitors. These are mostly well-known food producers, but also consultancy firms, a laboratory and patient associations. Celiac disease is amply represented with associations joining from France (AFDIAG), the United Kingdom (Coeliac UK), Germany (DZG), Finland (Keliakialiitto), Italy (AIC), The Netherlands (NCV), complemented by their European umbrella organization (AOECS).

The exhibition can be visited free-of-charge. Joining the conference is EUR 295 for one day, or EUR 395 for both.

The organization behind Free From Food 2013 will provide The Serious Celiac access to the entire event for coverage. No arrangements have been made regarding the contents of the reports.

During these two days (4 and 5 June 2013) I will keep you posted live through Twitter (@SeriousCeliac) on all the news facts that I come across. Because I will probably be too busy for translating, all tweets will be in English, even on the foreign-language Twitter channels. (Translators still welcome!)

Additionally, I hope to shoot some photos and/or videos, do a couple of interviews and have some time and energy left in the evening to put them into a blog post. These will also first appear in English, also on the foreign-language pages. Register your e-mail address in the sidebar on the right to receive an update when new posts are added.

Now of course I have some ideas already about who I want to talk to there. For example, I should probably check how the Italian celiac association is feeling. Or hear what other celiac societies think about the transfer of the gluten free rules to general food law. The proposal for that will be discussed by the European Parliament in the days surrounding Free From Food 2013. Perhaps one of the Spanish exhibitors could tell me why the Spanish celiac association, and that other one, from Madrid, are absent? Besides that I’m also very interested in the discussion that has been going on in the scientific community for several years now already on possible differences in toxicity in different oat varieties. I wonder what the various gluten free oat-producers think about that.

But I would also like to hear from you guys what you would like to learn from the speakers and exhibitors there! Product questions, scientific questions, critical questions, all questions are welcome. So check out the conference program and exhibitors list, send me your questions and I will try to get them answered!